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The back of the postcard had this to say about the Amazon Theater Opera House :

Built in architectural European Style, the majestic Amazon Theater was inaugurated in 1896 and became a national property in 1966.  The concert hall is in the form of a horseshoe and has capacity for 701, including three floors of box seats.  In the external area stands a dome with 36,000 ceramic tiles in the colors of the national flag.  Built during the Amazon rubber boom, it is synonymous with glamor and richness.

I was curious as to how the inside looked, so I did some searching on the web, but was only really able to find one decent picture that showcased the theaters’ opulence.

I think it is rather impressive.  Someone definitely put a lot of thought and detail into it.  The ceiling looks like it has a painted design.  I’m sure the pictures don’t do the building justice, like many things in life.

I’ve never been to an opera before.  People say that they are emotional and powerful, but I’m not a big fan of the way opera sounds.  In Xiamen, China, a troop came to our neighborhood and put on a Chinese Opera.  I swear it lasted all day, and it was by far the loudest, most annoying thing I have ever heard so far in my life.  Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more had I walked down the street and watched it.  Who knows?

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When I got this card, I was excited because it was my first card from China.  When I read the back of the card, and found out where it had come from, I was even more excited.  Of all of the places in the world that a postcard could have been sent from, this postcard was sent from Xiamen, China, the city I lived in for six months.

Gulangyu is a beautiful little island.  I loved to go there and just walk around because it was quiet – at least once you got off the ferry and ran past the vultures trying to sell you over priced crap.  They loved to try and sell you those annoying magnetic rocks.  It was also quiet because cars are not allowed on the island.  If you want to go anywhere, you either have to walk or take an electric golf cart – which isn’t free.  The island is small, though, so walking isn’t a big deal.

Also, when you are on the island, you sorta feel like you have been transported somewhere in Europe because almost all of the buildings look like the one above – very Victorian.  Why are there Victorian style buildings on a Chinese island?  Well, the island was populated by foreigners for many years following the Treaty of Nanking in 1842.  Most of the buildings were offices and residences of Consulate-Generals.

Guylanyu is particularly famous for its Piano Museum – the only one of its kind in China.  I didn’t visit the museum when I was there, but I’m sure it’s nice.  There are speakers throughout the island that constantly play piano music.  It’s very relaxing.

Another awesome thing about Gulangyu are the trees.  Compared to many other parts of China that I saw, Gulangyu has lots of old trees.  You can sorta see how big they are in the picture.

If you ever find yourself on Gulangyu, I suggest that you either bring some bug spray or leave the island before the sun starts to set.  When I was there I was attacked by the most ferocious mosquitoes.  For a week, I had the biggest, reddest, itchiest mosquito bites that I have ever had in my life.  Mosquitoes don’t normally bother me too much, but man, these were absolutely horrible!

The back of the postcard said the name of the building was Eight Diagram Pagoda, but I don’t think that is right.  For one, the building does not look like a pagoda at all.

If you are visiting Xiamen, you can take the ferry for free to Gulangyu, but when you want to leave, you have to pay one yuan to get back.  Tricky little devils, eh?  You also have the choice to take the ferry, or pay a little extra to take a speed boat.  Unless you are in a huge rush, take the ferry.

Oh, and if you haven’t noticed, I have uploaded all of my postcards.  To see them, click on the photo tab and then click gallery.

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I love castles.  If I was filthy rich, I would totally buy one  . . . possibly two or three.  Of course, it would have to be haunted, because no castle is complete without a ghost or two.  🙂 I have no idea what I would do with 30+ rooms, but I am sure I’d think of something.  I’d probably end up painting them all purple.  🙂

The internet didn’t have much to say about Boskovice or the castle in question – I still don’t know its name.  If you happen to be privy to such information, please enlighten me.

I think the thing I love most about the castle on this postcard is the rolling hills that it is situated on.  I’m sure that it provides an awesome view of the surrounding areas.

There is a particular castle in Germany that I really want to see.  It’s called Neuschwanstein, and it is located outside of Munich. The Sleeping Beauty castle at Disneyland was modled after it.  Phil and I may very well be going to Germany this year, and if we do, you better believe we’re going to find a way to tour it.  I think it would be an awesome place to get married.  Hmm . . . the wheels just started turning in my head.  I wonder if my dad would spring for that?

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I am always very excited when postcards arrive in my mailbox from countries that either A) I don’t get often, or B) I haven’t gotten at all.  This is my first postcard from Spain.

I don’t know what to say about this postcard.  I tried looking up information on the artist, Malcolm Greensmith, but I couldn’t find a whole lot about him, other than that he is a renowned military artist.  I don’t know when he was born, or if he is still living.  I’m assuming he is from Great Britain because that is where the card was printed, but who knows if that is a correct assumption. If you like his artwork, there are several sites offering cross stitching designs created by him.

I’m not sure how ploughing is related to the miltary, so perhaps this was drawn by a differnt Malcolm Greensmith.  Either way, I like the postcard because it’s cute and has animals on it.  Perhaps, that is why the sender chose it for me.  I like the old feeling the postcard has, too.  It reminds me of the country.  It would be nice to have a horse to help me plough my garden this year.  I am not looking forward to hacking away at the ground again, even though the hard work eventually pays off.

PS  If you by chance know more about this Malcolm Greensmith guy, be sure to share your knowledge in the comment section.

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I can only imagine what type of people are going to end up at my blog with a title like Blue Tit.  I guess it doesn’t matter how they get here, as long as they get here, and most importantly, stay.  Although, if they are looking for anything other than a Blue Tit bird, they will sadly be disappointed when they do arrive.  🙂

The sender of this card said, “It is a very common bird in Finland and stays here the whole winter while most birds are spending winter time somewhere in warm southern countries.”

I at first thought she was talking about a type of bird we have here in South Carolina called a Tit Mouse, but when I looked it up in Wikipedia, I found they are different types of birds, although, they do come from the same Tit bird family – the Paridae.

In Finnish, a Blue Tit is called a Sinitiainen, and they only have a lifespan of about 1.5 years.  Blue Tits are considered valuable destroyers of pests, like aphids, but can also be annoying pests as well.  They sometimes pull off the buds of various trees in search of insects to eat.  Another thing I found interesting, is that a pair of Blue Tits will use the same nesting box year after year.  When that pair dies, another pair will take its place.  Wikipedia didn’t say, but I guess that means they mate for life.

This spring I want to go bird watching. I hope that I can take pictures like the one above of the various South Carolina birds.  I’ve tried getting pictures of the ones in my yard, but they hide too far up in trees and won’t sit still for nothing.

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Recently, I updated my Postcrossing profile with a more specific list of the types of postcards I would like to receive.  Postcrossing says that you can’t demand a certain type of postcard, but that you can give suggestions to help other users choose from the postcards they have.  It is not that I didn’t like the postcards I was getting.  All of my postcards are great.  I just wanted to let the other users know what I would enjoy most – if they had that type of card to send.

I indicated that I loved faeries, and if anyone had a postcard with a faerie on it, I would love to become its owner.  A few days later, this arrived in my mailbox.  It rocks not only because it is a faerie, but because it is a purple faerie. Anyone who knows me, knows how obsessed with purple I am.

I am almost certain that this an Amy Brown faerie, but I didn’t see her signature anywhere on the front or a snippet on the back telling me so.  I asked the sender if it was, but she never got back to me.   Hot Topic use to sell Amy Brown faerie calenders, cards, and other stuff, but now I can’t find her faeries anywhere other than online.  And this wasn’t an originally a postcard.  The sender said it had been a regular card, but that she transformed it into a postcard for me because she knew how much I liked faeries.

If I was just a smidge talented, I would draw faeries all day long.  I can’t even draw a stick figure properly. 🙁  At work the other day, I tried to draw one just to see how it would turn out.  I found out that I am pretty good at wings, but I can’t draw a face or body to save my life.

Phil thinks I am absolutely insane to believe that faeries actually exist.  I guess that is part of the kid in me that never grew up.  🙂  He thinks that people mistook hummingbirds or insects for faeries.  Maybe they did.  Who knows.

I’m still participating in Postcrossing, just not at the speed I was when I first started. International stamps are expensive, especially when you are sending out 6 or so postcards at a time every week and a half. Well, I’ve been a bit busy(lazy) lately, and so I’ve neglected my duty to scan in my postcards. I finally got around to it after I got back from Atlanta.

So, here we go. First up, Germany.

What a cute little abode.

I think I am going to start a list of places I HAVE to go to before I die, and I am going to use some of the postcards I receive to help me make that list.

Macedonia! I probably never would have received a postcard from there, had Ana not offered to send me one. To thank her, I sent her one. If you want to see my personal card, you’ll have to scroll down a bit, or go to the next page. Ana gets lots and lots of postcards. She goes into a lot more detail on her postcards that I do. It’s pretty neat, you should check it out.

For some reason, I’m always interested in what a person’s handwriting will look like. I guess it’s like trying to figure out what a person will look like if you have never met them.

Wellington looks very similar to Hong Kong. Tall buildings. Bright lights. Mountains in the distance. Water. I really wish New Zealand wasn’t so far away.

I’ve sent/received 3 postcards from New Zealand. One from the top. One from the bottom. And now one from the middle. Heh. Only I would find something like that interesting.

A lot of people argue that there is no point in traveling overseas because there is so much to see in their country of residence. I really should make a point to visit more of my country. I’m always jealous of people that live in Europe. They have some many countries nearby.

The freaky thing about this postcard is that I accidentally stumbled upon her blog before I got her postcard. What are the odds of a postcrosser having a blog, me finding it, and then later receiving a postcard from that user without ever asking that person to send one? Strange, I tell you, strange.

I officially dislike ad cards now.

And this is why.

My very fist postcard from Thailand. I always like it when a new country arrives in my mailbox.

Only 7572 postcards have been sent from Thailand.  I feel lucky.

This is a postcard from Sybil who lives in Turkey.  She keeps sending me the most interesting postcards. This one here depicts “A circumcision ceremony during the time of Sultan Ahmed III.”  They had ceremonies? Very interesting.

I always like getting cards from Sybil because she provides me with lots of reading material.  🙂

My mom told me over the phone that I had received a postcard that had people standing on a roof.  I pictured something a lot more wild in my head, let me tell you, but when I got home and saw it, I was pleasantly surprised to find out why they were standing on the roof. What a very exciting wedding!  That must be one strong roof, though, to hold that many people.

I really think that Sybil may have the gift of gab.  It’s not a bad thing, though.  I learn a lot when people have much to say.

The other night, as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep, I had an idea pop into my head. Gabe having ideas is usually dangerous, I know, but occasionally, they can lead to interesting things – i.e. China. If it hadn’t been for my rather spontaneous idea to go teach English in China, God only knows what the past year of my life would have been like – probably a lot more boring. Anyway, I digress. The idea was this, “Wouldn’t it be great to take pictures of complete strangers, ask them some interesting questions, and make a blog or book out of it?” I mean, stranger blogs and books have been created and become successful, so why couldn’t my idea potentially work?

Well, I’ve decided to put my idea on paper, or rather the internet, and see if anyone would be interested in participating because without willing participants, my idea won’t work that well. And that is where you, dear reader, come into play. Hopefully, you are still actually reading, and you didn’t stop at “the other night”. If so, let me tell you more about my idea.

First things first, my idea needs a title. After much thought, I’ve decided to call it The Stranger Project . Yeah, I know, not as ground breaking as you had hoped for, but I’m sure names like GoDaddy and Google didn’t sound all that fantastic until half of the world thought they were cool.

And what is its purpose? What will people gain by participating? Well, the project will allow people to read and learn a little something about a complete stranger that they never would have met or learned about otherwise. I know I can’t possibly be the only person who scours blogs to read about the lives of strangers all over the world. People intrigue me. I love learning about traditions, experiences, and how people feel about different things.  That’s mostly the reason why I participate in Postcrossing . There has to be at least a handful of people out there who share my interests. Well, I’m hoping there is at least several handfuls, or this won’t work quite as well as I imagined.

And where is it? How do I take part? I’ve decided for the time being to start the project over on blogspot . If everything goes well, I may move it here or create its own personal domain so that Phil can host it on his box. I’m basically using blogspot as a test. If everything does go well, then I’ll be happy. If things turn south, well, worst things have happened to me.

I’m posting about it here in hopes that some of you will venture on over and participate. I know the chances of that are slim, but I figured I should at least ask. Ask and you shall you receive, right? All of the directions/rules are located over at The Stranger Project , but I’ll give you the low down here.

Where to Submit

If you want to participate after reading everything below, you may send your submission to the following email :astrangerproject at gmail.com.

What is Required

1. A picture of yourself.

2. 5 answered questions from the list provided below.  Please provide the questions that you use in your submission, just in case the answer you provide doesn’t make it clear which question you are answering.

3. Your first name.

4. Your age.

The Rules

The rules are rather simple I think. As of now, I only have six rules. I think most individuals can follow them. I don’t typically like rules, but I figured that this sort of project needed them. Here they are.

1. Pictures cannot have more than one “stranger”. i.e. Don’t include your cat, your best friend, or your best friend’s cat with you. One photo. One person.

Pictures may be a profile or full length shot. The more creative the picture is – the happier I am.

2. Pictures cannot contain an ounce of nudity or anything that I deem to be vulgar or inappropriate. i.e. If you have to stop and think whether or not it’s inappropriate, it probably is, and you shouldn’t submit it.

3. Don’t submit pictures of people you don’t know, your friends or famous people. i.e. If you are the person sending me an email, it should be your face in the picture and no one else’s. If for one moment I think the picture is not legit – it will get deleted.

4. Answers must accompany the picture being sent. i.e. If I get answers, but no picture, your submission will not be considered. The same goes for pictures submitted without answers.

5. Don’t include any personal information like your address or phone number in the answers you provide.

6. Last but not least . . . have fun and tell all your friends!

The Questions

Right now I have a total of 22 questions. Of these 22, only 5 need to be answered with your submission . You’ll notice that number 22 is an open question. You may use that one as many times as you like, but just remember rule #2 above. In time, I may add some more questions. If want me to add some questions that you though of, just let me know.

1 . Where were you born and raised?

2 . What is something memorable about your childhood?

3 . What are your life goals?

4 . What are your spiritual beliefs?

5 . What is your occupation and what do you like/dislike about it?

6 . Who do you love and who are they to you?

7 . What are you good at?

8 . What is something you can’t do well?

9 . What is your passion in life?

10 . You know you have to work to live, so if you could pick your work, what would you do?

11 . What is something you want to accomplish before you die?

12 . Has there ever been a book that you’ve read that has changed your life? What was its title and how did it change your life?

13 . Has there ever been a movie that you’ve seen that has changed your life? What was its title and how did it change your life?

14 . Have you ever fought for something you’ve believed in? What did you fight for and what was the outcome?

15 . If you could meet anyone living or dead, who would it be and why?

16 . What is your favorite color and why?

17 . Has anyone ever changed your life? Who were they and what did they do?

18 . Who is your favorite teacher and why?

19 . What is the best vacation you’ve been on and why?

20 . If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

21 . What do you despise?

22. Don’t see a question you like? That’s okay, create your own. Just remember Rule #2 when you do so.

And well, that’s it. If you choose to participate, thanks. If not, I understand.  Remember, this project is still in its infancy.  I’ve got to work out all the kinks and make it look really nice.

Another week, another set of postcards from around the world.

At work, when I start thinking about how long it is until I can go home, I start thinking about the possibilities awaiting me in my mailbox. Will there be a postcard from a country I haven’t gotten one from yet? Will there be a thank you card from someone? Will it be written in a foreign language? What will be on the card? A fuzzy animal? Ancient scrolls from long ago? Colorful rocks? Or something self-made? Opening my mailbox is like opening a gift on my birthday. I never know what to expect.

Can anyone read Finnish? I’d like to know what that says.

I guess Pia didn’t have a lot to say.

When I first saw the front of this postcard, I thought it was from China, but no, it was sent from France. This is the first postcard that I have received from France. Postcrossing really is a learning experience. Almost every card I receive teaches me something I didn’t know before. I think that’s pretty cool.

Hopefully, my obsession of checking the mailbox won’t become debilitating. I’d hate to have to go to the doctor to get meds because I like getting mail – a lot.

I used to collect rocks when I was younger. I still have many of them sitting on a shelf somewhere.

This is my 4th postcard from Germany.

What a very interesting photograph. I really like how it is in black and white, and how she left the space on the left to write something. The frayed edge effect is really neat. This is the third hand-made card that I’ve received, and I can’t figure out why many postcrossers don’t want them. I really like them.

This one was actually sent to me in an envelope because it wasn’t affixed to a thick backing. I don’t think it would have made it all the way from Russia in one piece had it been sent by itself. I heard once that someone sent a banana through the mail. I wonder what in the world it looked like when it got to where it was going.

Here are six more postcards that I received through Postcrossing this past week. As soon as I save up some money and some vacation time, I’m going to have to start traveling again. Maybe to help me decide where to go first, I’ll put all of the postcards I’ve received in a big basket, close my eyes, and pluck one out. That would make traveling pretty interesting. Hrm, I can so see that being a premise of a Discovery or Travel Channel show. I’d watch it. 🙂

I felt pretty special to get this one from Hong Kong. There are only 68 users there, and I’m sure they are all not active. I loved the architecture of the buildings in China, especially in Hong Kong.

If someone could please translate this for me, I would greatly appreciate it. I was only able to recognize a few of the characters.

I really want to visit Germany at least once before I die. My ancestors came over on a boat in 1854.

I’m convinced that all Germans write their 1’s like little upside down V’s. How wicked. Not wicked in a bad way, wicked in an interesting way.

This is the first panoramic postcard that I’ve received. I really like the colors in it.

If I ever need to be inspired one day, I’ll just pull this postcard out and give it a read.

This is the first postcard that I’ve received from Lithuania. Seems like an interesting place.

It sure took a lot of stamps to send the postcard to me. I wonder how hard it would be to learn Lithuanian. It doesn’t look particularly easy.

Never been to New Hampshire, but I would like to travel north one day – only in the summer though. I can’t stand cold weather. I’d rather be hot and melting than cold and frozen.

I sent Audrey a postcard, and she was nice enough to send me one in return. I find it funny that the Post Office let it be sent with the 26 cent stamp, instead of the new 27 cent one.

This one is from Wisconsin, another state I’ve never been able to visit . . . yet.

My first postcard was from a 9 year old boy in Finland. It’s nice to see young people participating in Postcrossing.